Twilight Duel Update #26

This month 1,684 stitches were added to my Heaven and Earth Designs "Twilight Duel" cross-stitch, based on artwork by Ruth Thompson.

More of the white dragon's body and neck were filled in. I do love seeing the picture come together on this one!

Percent Complete:
Project:         36.55% (It was 35.41%)
Pages 1-2:  100%
Page 3:         37.16% (It was 32.92%)
Page 4:      100%
Page 5:          1.83%
Page 6:          0%
Pages 7-8: 100%
Page 9:          2.98% (It was 2.73%)
Page 10:        0.25%
Pages 11-12: 0%
Page 13:    100%
Page 14:      26.23% (It was 9.08%)
Page 15:        1.26% (It was 0%)
Pages 16-18: 0%
Page 19:    100%
Page 20:        3.72%

Thank you for visiting.
-Renee

Fractal White Tiger March 2018

Page 7 of my Charting Creations "Fractal White Tiger" cross-stitch, based on artwork by Ricky Barnard, was finished this month!

I am in love with this piece. Watching the tiger emerge is so much fun and it is going to be so impressive when it is finished.  

I am still a bit concerned that the fabric may have stretched while I was using the Q-snaps, before I received my lap frame. I discussed my concerns about that and of the fabric not being quite straight with my eldest son this weekend, as I am making it for him. He said he does not want me to restart it though. He'll love it even if the framer is unable to get it fully straight when it is finished. This has made me shy of using a frame smaller than the piece I am stitching. And, I have found the fabric I have purchased through my (not-so) local needlework shop seems to hold it's shape better than the precut, packaged fabrics I have purchased at the craft store. (QS Red Hearts seems to have an angle to the fabric too.) Anyway... enough about my worries...

Here is a close up of how it looks now. Next I will be working on pages 11 and 12, which should reveal the top of the pink nose!

Thank you for visiting!
-Renee

I began this project on January 1, 2016 to participate at stitchystart.blogspot.com.

Charting Creations also has a Small Fractal White Tiger chart based on this piece of art. It is my understanding the pinks in the nose are toned down in the smaller chart.

InCoWriMo 2018 in Review

Now that all of the mail I sent out in February should have been delivered, I thought I would share a recap of my 2018 InCoWriMo adventure.

I received another lovely postcard! This one is from Beth, a crazy quilting friend, and it is a beauty. The photo is copyrighted, but I was able to find it on-line. It is a National Trust image taken by Andrew Butler (image 53085 - it may be seen here.) 

To be honest, I was not expecting to receive mail through InCoWriMo, so every delivery was a treat! 

In addition to that postcard and the photos below of items previously shared, I also received several emails and messages through Facebook from friends that received mail from me. 

This lovely card and set of goodies from Christine.

This beautiful letter with pretty hearts from my blogging friend at Createology.

This fun postcard featuring a photo by Jeffrey Peterson of the M.J. Lee Ferry in Oregon from Kathy. 




Mail I sent:

One fabric postcard that I made last year.

Six Valentines featuring the digital stamp, "You Have Mail" from The Paper Shelter.

Two birthday cards. (I forgot to photograph.)

One "Thank You" card (seen here with my phonecase from Case Designs, featuring "Kindred Spirits" by Anne Stokes - found here.)

Twenty-four postcards featuring my "Snail Mail" CQJP 2018 February Block. I had these printed by Costco Photo Center and they were so much fun to mail out!

In all, I mailed out 34 items in February.

Where my outgoing InCoWriMo mail went:
Australia - 2
Canada - 1
The Netherlands - 1
The United Kingdom - 2
    England - 1
    Wales - 1
USA - 28
    Alabama - 1  
    Arizona - 2
    California - 1
    Illinois - 1
    Indiana - 1
    Michigan - 2
    Montana - 1
    New York - 1
    North Carolina - 1
    Oregen - 12
    South Carolina - 4
    Tennesee - 1

I received mail from:
The United Kingdom
USA
    Arizona
    California
    Oregon


If you emailed me your address for InCoWriMo and have not received a letter or card from me, please be sure to let me know! (I feel like I missed something...)

I want to thank you all for making InCoWriMo so much fun!



Did you know that April is National Letter Writing Month in the USA? I just read that the US Postal Service is kicking off National Letter Writing Month with limited edition "From Me to You" stamps.

An Internet search for "April National Letter Writing Month" brought up several interesting links. Only a couple are listed here.

The Smithsonian's National Postal Museum Blog has an interesting post by Nancy Pope encouraging readers to pick up a pen and paper to write a letter in April.

There is also a letter writing challenge in April. The Write-On Challenge began in 2014, inspired by Tess Darrow, the founder of Egg Press. It is a challenge to write 30 letters in 30 days. You may learn more about it here. 

Thanks for visiting!
Renee


InCoWriMo stands for International Correspondence Writing Month. It is a personal challenge to write a letter, note or card every day in February. You may learn more about it here. I am looking forward to InCoWriMo 2019!

March 2018 UFO Progress

In February, project #9 was selected for the 2018 American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge. 

On my list, that was "Red Barn" by England Design Studios. (I am not affiliated. The link is added for easy reference.) I had no idea what paper piecing was before beginning this wall quilt. I purchased my pattern at a JoAnn Fabric store. While sewing the borders on, I noticed a few mistakes and set it aside. That was at least a decade ago...

This month, I finally finished sewing the borders onto the quilt. (See the first photo.) Now, I just need to quilt it, add a hanging sleeve, add a label and bind it.

January's UFO was finished. (See the link to the Crazy Quilted Swan Tote below.)

My March UFO is embellishing my crazy quilted messenger bag. Progress is slow on that one.

Thank you for visiting!
Renee

Links to Related Posts:
2018 UFO Challenge List
Crazy Quilted Swan Tote

QS Red Hearts Update - March 2018

This month, I surpassed my goal of adding 1,300 stitches to my Heaven and Earth Designs QS Red Hearts cross-stitch project, based on artwork by Ching-Chou Kuik.

This is how she looked at the beginning of the month.

This is how she looks now. 2,075 stitches were added. (Only 243 of these were added during IHSW this month.)

If I keep stitching at this rate, I may finish her by July instead of December!

The project is now 80.53% complete. (It was 76.11%.)

Pages 1-4: 100% complete.
Page 5:        83.02% (It was 74.64%)
Page 6:        50.15% (It was 32.86%)
Page 7:        86.39% (It was 73.65%)
Page 8:        10.39% (It was 2.30%)
Page 9:          0%

Thank you for visiting!
Renee

IHSW is International Hermit & Stitch Weekend. This event takes place the 3rd full weekend of the month. (Knowing March 16th-18th would be busy for me, I did most of my stitching the 2nd weekend of this month.) You may learn more about IHSW here and find the Facebook Group here. See what others are working on through the link party found here.

I do hope you will join us with IHSW next month: Friday, April 20th - Sunday, April 22nd.

More InCoWriMo Happy Mail!

This wonderful card arrived in the mail the end of last week as part of InCoWriMo 2018. 

Exchanging letters with Kathy from Running with Rocket was particularly fun because we are both in Oregon.

The card she sent me features a photo of the M.J. Lee Ferry on the Willamette River that was taken by Jeffrey Peterson. My husband and I actually planned to take this ferry once while we were out and about years ago. Unfortunately, we did not plan things very well, as the ferry was not running that day. Oops! (I assume it was a holiday, but it was too long ago to remember.) We may have to try again soon!

I love our beautiful state, so this was a fun surprise to receive in the mail. Thank you, Kathy!

Hugs,
Renee

InCoWriMo stands for International Correspondence Writing Month. It is a personal challenge to write a letter a day in February. You may learn more about it here.

InCoWriMo Happy Mail

Earlier this week, I received this sweet letter from my dear blogging friend from Createology. The stationery is so pretty and her  handwriting is lovely. (If only mine were half as neat!) The little hearts are such sweet additions! Thank you!

The postcard in the photo was my outgoing InCoWriMo mail. I had special postcards made to mail this year and am happy to hear several of them have reached their destinations. (I will share photos of the front in my InCoWriMo Review post later this month.)

I hope you all have an amazing weekend! 
-Renee


InCoWriMo stands for International Correspondence Writing Month. It is a personal challenge to write a letter a day throughout the month of February. You may find the official website here.

Fractal White Tiger February 2018

You may recall that I started this Charting Creations Fractal White Tiger in January of 2016 to participate with stitchystart.blogspot.com. If you follow that blog, you have already seen this update.

My goal has been to work on this piece for the last week of each month. That plan has not worked out very well. Life keeps interrupting. So, I only added 210 stitches in February - they filled in a bit along the right side of the eye. 

However, I am happy to say I have already added another 448 stitches to it in March, so the progress should be more visible in my next update. (I will be sharing a picture of how it looks now on Instagram later today.)

I do love this piece of art by Ricky Barnard!

Thanks for visiting,
Renee

March 2018

Happy March!

Last month was a short one and my goals were a bit lofty.

A few of them are moving forward on my bullet journal list.

There is a lot I hope to accomplish this month, too.

We'll see how I do!

February Goals: 5 out of 8 fully accomplished.
1. InCoWriMo: 33 letters/postcards/cards were mailed out. I will share a review later this month.
2. February CQJP 2018 Block - Done!
3. "Making Waves" for the Sun, Sand, and Sea BOM - Done!
4. Christmas mug rug - Done!
5. Organize sewing room - Done!

March Goals

Crazy Quilting: 

CQJP 2018 March Block - piece and embellish

Make Mother's Day item(s) to add to my Etsy inventory.

Quilting:

Sun, Sand, and Sea BOM: Complete "Hammock Time"

It's a "Wild" Life BOM: Complete Block 2 "Deer Meadow" - This pattern is free throughout March 2018.

UFO:

# 3 was selected this month. On my list, that is embellishing my crazy quilt OSU messenger bag. (The photo to the right shows how it looked on January 1st. I've added a few TAST stitches to it since then.)


Cross Stitch:

Add 3,125 stitches to my projects. At least 1,300 of those stitches need to be added to QS Red Hearts.

Christmas:

Complete an item to share on the 1 X-mas Item a Month Blog.

Exercise:

Schedule a plan in my bullet journal and stick to it!

Declutter:

Living Room

Most viewed blogposts in February 2018

1. TAST Weeks 5-6
2. February

3. Embellished CQJP 2018 February Block

4. TAST Weeks 7-8

5. Sun, Sand, and Sea BOM 2017 - Block 8